I will give the reader a few specimens, and leave him to judge.

Paine alledges, that Moses could not be the author of the five books, which go under his name, because they are frequently written in the third person.

Xenophon and Cæsar will answer this difficulty. Paine confounds mathematical with historical evidence.

Any novice in science knows the difference.

Paine confounds also a book that is genuine with one that is authentic.

He ought to have known that the difference is extremely great and important.

He declares the prodigies recorded by Livy and Tacitus, to be attended with as good evidence as the miracles of Christ.

No man of any information can justify such an

assertion.

He asserts, that miracles admit not of proof.

Let the reader turn to Campbell on the subject, and judge. The testimony of 500, or 50, or even 10 credible persons, is sufficient to establish the validity of any of the scriptural miracles, where there is no counter evidence.

Paine assures us, that there is no affirmative evidence that Moses is the author of the Pentateuch.

No books in the world ever had more affirmative evidence. Watson has brought it into one view. Abundance of the most respectable authors, who have written since the time of Moses, give their testimony to his writings. The books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and most of those which follow, all bear witness to them, besides several of the Heathen.

He asserts, that the genealogy from Adam to Saul, takes up the first nine chapters of the first book of Chronicles.

U

Now any man may see, that the descendants of David to four generations after Zerubbabel, are found in the third chapter; and the succession of the high priests till the captivity, in the sixth chapter, with various other similar matters.

Paine considers the two books of Chronicles as a repetition of the two books of Kings.

This is a very erroneous representation. The first book of Kings contains an account of the old age and death of David, with the succession and reign of Solomon; the history of Rehoboam, and division of the kingdom; Jeroboam's reign, and several of his successors in the kingdom of Israel till the death of Ahab. It contains some account of Asa, Jehosaphat, and other kings of Judah, so far as connected with the contemporary kings of Israel. The history of Elijah is also interwoven in the same book, with some notice of Elisha.The second book of Kings finishes the history of Elijah, and carries forward the history of Elisha, with a kind of joint history of the kings of Israel and Judah, and those with whom they had war, till the captivity of the king of Israel by Shalmaneser, and of the king of Judah by Nebuchad

nezzar.

-The

Let us now examine the contents of the two books of Chronicles.. -The first book contains the genealogies before mentioned, and the history of David, with the settlement of the temple service.second book of Chronicles contains the history of Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, and all the succeeding kings of Judah, pretty much at large, till the Babylonish captivity.From this short review of these four books, it appears, that the reigns of Solomon and Rehoboam, with some small variations, are common to the books of Kings and Chronicles; but that, in most other respects, they are entirely different.

Paine says, the book of Ezra was written immediately after the Jews returned from Babylon.

He should have known, that it was nearly fourscore years after.

Paine says, Ezra and Nehemiah wrote an account of the same affairs in the return of the Jews from captivity.

He is as much mistaken here as he was concerning the four books of Kings and Chronicles; for Nehemiah relates few or none of the same events with Ezra.

He says, Satan is no where mentioned in the Old Testament but in Job.

Let any man consult 2 Sam. xix. 22; 1 Kings v. 4; 2 Chron. xxi. 1; Ps. cix. 6; Zech. iii. 1; and say what dependance can be placed on this mistaken man's

assertions.

He pretends to prove the book of Job to be the work of some Heathen writer, from the words Pleiades, Orion, and Arcturus, which are found in our translation. See ch. ix. 9; xxxviii. 31, 32. In the original Hebrew, however, the words are Hus, Chesil, and Kima. Where then is his argument?

He says, the Heathens were a just, moral people, not addicted to cruelty and revenge, neither were they worshippers of images.

This assertion is in direct opposition, not only to the Bible, but to the general strain of universal history.

Paine makes himself merry with supposing that we priests are of opinion all the Psalms were written by David, and that he must therefore have composed some of them after his death.

But where does he find any man of character, that asserts they were all written by David? The titles to the Psalms might convince him to the contrary. He says, priests reject reason.

As a universal proposition, this is utterly false. There are none more reasonable men upon earth, than many of the Christian priests.

He says, almost the only parts in the book called the Bible, that convey to us any idea of God, are some chapters in Job, and the 19th Psalm.

Very possibly. But then, is he not a very fit man to write against the Bible? What thinks he of the 8th Psalm, the 18th. the 24th. the 29th. the 33d. the 34th. the 36th. the 46th. the 47th. the 50th. the 65th. the 93d. the 96th. the 98th. the 103d. the 104th. the 107th. the 139th. the 145th. and a vast variety of other passages, which speak more or less of the existence, perfections, and government of the Divine Being?

He says, 66 some chapters in Job and the 19th Psalm are truly deistical compositions, for they treat of the Deity, through his works. They take the book of creation as the word of God; they refer to no other book; and all the inferences they make are drawn from that volume."

This declaration is so far from being true, that one half of the 19th psalm itself is occupied in celebrating the perfection of the law of Moses!*

He says, the Jews never prayed but when in trouble.

That this is a vile slander, see 1 Kings iii. 6-9; 1 King viii. 23-53; and a variety of the psalms, which were composed upon joyful occasions.The man who can thus wickedly slander a whole nation, is admirably well suited to declaim against the iniquity of priests, and prophets! Bolingbroke and Voltaire were tolerably expert in perversion and defamation, but Paine excels them both in these estimable qualifications!

He says, Ahaz was defeated and destroyed by Pekah.

This is utterly false; he was defeated, but not destroyed. He died a natural death; and the promise of the prophet Isaiah was literally fulfilled.

But as this psalm was wrote under Divine inspiration, it must now be extended to include the whole Scriptures.—Phil. editor.

He says, the book of Isaiah is "bombastical rant, extravagant metaphor, such stuff as a school-boy would have been scarely excusable for writing."

Better judges than Paine, are of a different opinion. And I challenge him, and all his friends, to produce, from any book, ancient or modern, any oration equally eloquent with the first chapter of this despised book, or any poem more sublime than that in the fourteenth.

He says, the prophet of Judah was found dead by the contrivance of the prophet of Israel.

Where does he find his evidence? He can prove no such thing. There is an old-fashioned book of high authority, which saith-When the devil speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Solomon had his house full of wives and mistresses at the age of one and twenty.

Let him produce his evidence. Where is it recorded?

The infants were not butchered by Herod, because the Baptist was not involved in the destruction.

Paine ought to have known, that the parents of the Baptist did not live at Bethlehem, but at Hebron, which was at a distance.

He intimates that Christ had in view the deliverance of his country from the Roman yoke.

Assertions are not proofs; where is the evidence? He says, Christ was not much known, when he was apprehended.

Where did he learn this? Produce the evidence. He affirms, Christ did not intend to be apprehended and crucified.

This is in direct opposition to the gospels from. whence all his evidence arises.

* Lowth, Blair, &c.—Phil. editor.